A trip to the past
I've changed direction slightly in recent months, or rather, added a new direction to my writing. While I'm still writing my dual time novel, set in 1916 and 2016 (conveniently avoiding the Covid-19 pandemic!), I'm also editing a historical novel I began back in 2013. There are a lot of eye openers when you go back, either to re-read or re-write something you wrote several years earlier. If your journey as a writer has gone as you'd hoped and planned it would and the intervening years have been one of growth and experience, then the first thing that jumps out at you when reading earlier efforts are the weak spots in the story, the lack of character depth and often the immaturity of the writing. I saw all three when I looked over my 2013 partial manuscript, which was depressing at first, but reworking it now, I am also heartened by the improvement in my writing and the maturing of my voice over the last seven years. Having focused on contemporary novels over the last ...